1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gift cards and envelopes therefore. The present invention also relates to a system for facilitating referrals of customers through employment of gift cards through employment of customers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Merchants have devised many methods and devices for attempting to increase sales of the items or services they offer. For example, advertising, holding “sales” at discounted prices for at least some items, and providing discount coupons are some commonly used methods.
Merchants may use discount coupons in a variety of contexts. For example, discount coupons may be printed along with an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine. Discount coupons may also be provided at a sales counter, handed out personally and available on the internet and via email.
“Gift certificates” have characteristics of discount coupons in that they are typically only valid for purchasing products or services from a particular merchant or group of merchants, and also have some characteristics of currency, in that that they typically have a particular dollar value.
“Gift cards” represent a recent improvement over gift certificates. “Gift cards” typically look like credit or debit cards and have either a coded number, bar code, computer-readable magnetic strip, or the like. This allows each gift card to act like a separate “account” with an initial value in dollars, when activated.
Gift cards are typically given a value in dollars (or other currency) at the time of activation. That is, a user uses the gift card to purchase items at a store for a merchant accepting the gift card, and the amount of the purchase is deducted from the “account” associated with the card (the parameters of which are stored on a computer). Gift cards may either be purchased (for example, as a birthday gift) or may be given away for promotional purposes, in a similar manner to discount coupons. That is, a merchant may provide free gift cards, in return for the consumer doing something desired by the merchant. For example, a merchant may provide a free gift card having a value of $10, $50, $100 or some other amount, but that is valid only one day or expiring by a certain date, i.e. before December 25th during the Christmas season. The hope for the merchant is that the person receiving the card will come into the store on that one day or during a certain time period to buy something that will give the merchant more overall profit than the cost of the gift card, even though that person was not planning on going into the store to buy anything at that location in the near future until the person received the gift card. By making the card valid on only for a certain time, it creates some “fear of loss” on the part of the person receiving the card, since the value of the card will be zero if not used during the dates of validation.
The problem with using gift cards for promotional purposes is that consumers are inundated with so many marketing messages, sales events, advertising and other promotional efforts by merchants that it is difficult for a particular merchant to hold the attention of a person in the target market long enough to deliver the promotional material. For example, in the case of gift cards, in particular, a merchant may provide a $10 gift card for a particular promotional. However, to a person receiving many, many promotions, the person may not even notice the gift card offering on a sales counter. Or, if the person receives the gift card, the person may easily ignore, or lose, the gift card. In such a case, the promotional value of the gift card is lost. That is, the merchant failed to induce the person to come into the store to buy something. Even if the gift card was purchased by someone (for example, as a birthday gift), it is easy for the recipient to ignore, or lose, the gift card, because its value is easily forgotten or not noticed.
In addition, generally, salespeople can have a hard time when confronted with a potential customer who simply replies “sorry, just looking” The salesperson is typically put into a quandary and unsure of how to continue. This can create problems for salespeople, as sales are typically regarded as the sine qua non of salesmanship.
For example, many people have been involved in a retail sale, whether as a casual shopper, retail sales person, or anywhere in between. As a result, most of us are well aware of the four phrases that sales people can fear the most when assisting customers and attempting to make sales. They are:
“No thanks, I am just looking.”
“It costs more than I expected.”
“Thanks, but I really need to shop around.”
“I need to think it over.”
Collectively these terms are referred to as “killer phrases” due to their ability to inhibit sales, as each of the phrases normally results in the sales person being left defenseless, with no effective response, and the customer abandoned and free to walk out of the establishment with the money they intended on spending still in their pocket, instead of the stores' cash register.
The first of these killer phrases, “No thanks, I am just looking,” usually follows a sales person asking a shopper: “Can I help you?” This instinctive rejection of assistance leaves most sales persons defenseless, usually prompting another popular instinctive response from the sales person to the effect of, “Ok, well if there is anything I can help you with, let me know.” The remaining killer phrases, “It is a little more expensive than I thought,” “Thanks, but I really need to shop around,” or “I need to think it over,” are also very effective ways of neutralizing the sales person's attempts to encourage purchases.
All four of these expressions generally leave shoppers unaccompanied and free to leave the business establishment without making the purchases they perhaps intended on making, and the sales person feeling powerless to persuade the shoppers into making those purchases, despite the fact that helping customers make purchases is a sine qua non of the sales person's responsibility.